What are English pasties?
Pasties are a meat and vegetable filled turnover pastry originating from South West England, but have become popular throughout Great Britain. The small hand held meat pies are associated with the mining history of the area as many coal miners would take them to eat on their lunch breaks in the mines.
Ingredients:
Meat:
- 3/4 lb. of pork steak
- 1/2 lb. of round steak
- 2 medium-sized onions
- 1 1/2 cup of ruta bega
- 5 medium potatoes
- 1 1/2 tbs. of salt
- 1/2 tsp. of pepper
Pastry:
- 3 cups of flour
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1 cup of shortening
- 3/4 cup of water
Cookware:
- Knives
- Bowls
- Vegetable Peelers
- Wooden Spoon
- Sheet Pan
Instructions:
1. Cut up the meat (this part can be done the night before).
2. Dice up the onions.
3. Mix all pastry ingredients together in a bowl.
4. Peel the potatoes and ruta bega.
5. Roll out ten 9 1/2 inch pastries.
6. Slice the ruta bega and potatoes.
7. Grate the vegetables.
8. Add the vegetables, onions, and meat to a mixing bowl.
9. Add seasoning and mix with a wooden spoon.
10. Divide the mixture onto the ten pieces of dough.
11. Close the pastries with another piece and then crimp with your fork when all are covered.
12. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for approximately one hour, or until pastry is golden and fully cooked through (no soft spots of dough).
About This Recipe
This recipe came with my family when they immigrated from Cornwall, England to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in Ironwood. The pastie story I’ve heard is they were baked in the English coal miner’s homes early in the morning. These meat and potato pies would remain warm until consumed during the miner’s underground lunch break.
My grandmother, Mary Trezise, and her brother, Bob Trezise, loved pasties and preserved the tradition their parents, Myrtle and Arthur Trezise, established by making them for family members.
My father, Mary’s son Philip Johnson, also loves making these with my mom, Molly Johnson. My siblings and I have fond memories of making pasties as a Christmas Eve tradition. I remember our Grandma Mary helping us many of the years before she passed away.
The COOLEST thing I have to share is a typed pastie recipe my great uncle, Bob, mailed to my Grandma Mary. He states their mother put a pat of butter into the pie before baking it (we do that too!) and she said pepper made a pastie great.
We get a chuckle out of Uncle Bob sharing in this recipe note, that he cut his finger grating vegetables for the pasties. He said what a terrible time he had sealing the pastry for that batch of pasties. He and his wife, Jo, make them for their extended family as a tradition in their Lansing, Michigan home.
Meat And Potato Pies
Equipment
- Knives
- Bowls
- Vegetable Peelers
- wooden spoon
- Sheet Pan
Ingredients
Meat
- 3/4 lb. pork steak
- 1/2 lb. round steak
- 2 medium-sized onions
- 1 1/2 cups ruta bega
- 5 medium potatoes
- 1 1/2 tbs. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
Pastry
- 3 cups flour
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1 cup shortening
- 3/4 cup water
Instructions
- Cut up the meat (this part can be done the night before).
- Dice up the onions.
- Mix all pastry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Peel the potatoes and ruta bega.
- Roll out ten 9 1/2 inch pastries.
- Slice the ruta bega and potatoes.
- Grate the vegetables.
- Add the vegetables, onions, and meat to a mixing bowl.
- Add seasoning and mix with a wooden spoon.
- Divide the mixture onto the ten pieces of dough.
- Close the pastries with another piece and then crimp with your fork when all are covered.
- Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for approximately one hour, or until pastry is golden and fully cooked through (no soft spots of dough).
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Emily Hill. Submit your own story here.
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